Police and the National Guard helped people reunite with their abandoned cars Thursday as the logjam on Atlanta highways eased and the roads thawed, two days after a winter storm.

The cleanup could take all day. At the peak of the storm, thousands of cars littered the interstates in Georgia and in Alabama. Some people ran out of gas, some were involved in accidents and others simply left their car on the side of the road so they could walk home or to someplace warm. Across much of the South, the sun was out, temperatures were rising and snow was beginning to melt.

Still, there is much cleanup to do. The Georgia State Patrol said more than 2,000 cars were abandoned along the freeways.

Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, a spokeswoman with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said it was critical vehicles were removed from highways Thursday because the emergency shoulders would be needed when normal traffic returns Friday.

"We ask that all motorists be extremely cautious as they're driving today and give these abandoned cars room so that folks who may be trying to get their car back, that they are able to do that safely," she said.

Overall, the Georgia State Patrol responded to more than 1,460 crashes between Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening, including two fatal crashes, and reported more than 175 injuries.

State transportation crews spent much of Wednesday rescuing stranded drivers and moving disabled and abandoned vehicles that littered the interstates, medians and shoulders.

Members of Georgia's National Guard set up at a church Thursday and offered to drive motorists in Humvees and heavy trucks to get their vehicles. Authorities at the makeshift command center could also tell people if their vehicles had been towed; state officials had said a database would be set up for tracking.

"It is very surprising to see how many vehicles are still abandoned along the side of the road," Sgt. 1st Class Archer Ford said.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, more than 400 flights in and out were canceled by 6 a.m. Thursday, according to data from the flight tracking service FlightAware. Many of those flights were canceled before the day began.

Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed found themselves on the defensive, acknowledging that storm preparations could have been better. But Deal also blamed federal forecasters, saying he was led to believe it wouldn't be so bad.

However, the National Weather Service explicitly cautioned on Monday that snow-covered roads "will make travel difficult or impossible." The agency issued a winter storm warning for metro Atlanta early Tuesday and cautioned against driving.

Deal, who is up for re-election in November, said warnings could have been posted along highways earlier, but he also fended off criticism.

"We don't want to be accused of crying wolf. Because if we had been wrong, y'all would have all been in here saying, 'Do you know how many millions of dollars you cost the economies of the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia by shutting down businesses all over this city and this state?'" Deal told reporters.

Speaking on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning, Reed said many of the news photos and videos showing freeways littered with abandoned cars were not in the city but in the surrounding region. Reed noted that the city doesn't have jurisdiction of those freeways and said most streets in Atlanta itself were now passable.

The Atlanta area was crippled by an ice storm in 2011, and officials had vowed not to be caught unprepared again. But in this case, few closings or other measures were ordered ahead of time.

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